


your smile brings sunshine/your tears bring rain (you're my whole world)

by stingerpicnic (ibelieveinfiction)



Series: it's a small world after all [1]
Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Maybe a little angst, Purring, flustered snufkin, im HERE for some cat snufkin content alright, its really not that angsty actually, moomin being his sweet self
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 22:07:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18787174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibelieveinfiction/pseuds/stingerpicnic
Summary: Moomin can feel the heat of his blush through his fur and he quietly thinks that a flustered Snufkin is also an adorable Snufkin. He should really do things like this more often.





	your smile brings sunshine/your tears bring rain (you're my whole world)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! this is my first work in the fandom! It's based on [this](https://stingerpicnic.tumblr.com/post/184788425842/moomintroll-can-must-should-and-will-say-i-can) tumblr post. If you look, you can probably see my descent into acceptance that, yeah, it wanted to be a Proper Story. It's unbetaed and this is only the very first part of it, but I may or may not write the rest up later.

He was doing it again.

He really wished Snufkin wouldn’t do this. They had been having such a nice time, too. Leaning against each other, tails hooked and paws held between them as they waited for fish to bite. It was a perfect autumn day. But Moomin felt the soft line of pressure on his side become harder as the minutes went by, the tail entwined with his growing restless. With every cool breeze that blew past them he could feel the pressure get just a little harder, a little more tense.

Still, he wasn’t going to bring it up himself. It was always best to let Snufkin take things at his own pace. _He_ might be ready to do a great many things at a moments notice, especially where Snufkin was concerned, but _Snufkin_ so often wasn’t. And the last thing Moomin wanted to do was trap him in a situation he wasn’t ready to deal with. Snufkin would speak when he was ready.

Moomin felt he had an idea what this was about, anyways. Just a couple years ago it would have been him in Snufkin’s position, but he felt so much more secure in their relationship now. Snufkin would come back in the spring and he really did need his winter journey. Moomin could see the difference it made when he returned in the spring. A certain tightness would begin building behind the mumrik’s eyes as autumn passed until the moment he left on his journey and it would have vanished by the time he returned.

So, Moomin understood that Snufkin had to have to leave him for the winter, he really did, even if it still made him a little sad to think about. Snufkin was obviously not ready to try staying through winter. Maybe he never would be. Which was fine, obviously. While Moomin would absolutely adore having Snufkin to cuddle up to during his hibernation, there was a certain joy seeing him race through that last stretch of forest to greet him in the spring, of seeing that expression of joy and relief and _love_ , that nothing else could quite replicate.

He just would have thought that _Snufkin_ understood that.

“I’ll have to leave soon.” Evidently not, though, if the guilt buried beneath a half-formed attempt at a matter-of-fact monotone had anything to say about it.

Moomin hummed, tightening his hold on the paw in his own. Snufkin squeezed back, which is a good sign.

“I really do have go,” that sounded even _more anxious._ They were really going to have to sit down and have another talk about this. Moomin hated seeing him do this to himself over something he so obviously needed.

“I know,” he said, trying his best to keep his worry and frustration out of his voice, instead softening it with as much care and understanding as he could.

“Do you have any idea where you’ll go this year?” he asks instead of _“You know you don’t have to feel bad about that, right?”_ or _“Do you really believe it isn’t fair of you to need this now that we’re together? It’s fair. I promise. I understand. The added closeness doesn’t have to trap you. I know you’ll come back. It’s okay,”_ or even _“You know I love you, don’t you? And that nothing could change that?”_ like he wants to. He’s asked those questions before and he knows their answers. He also knows asking them now will only make Snufkin feel more guilty.

“I don’t know. I suppose I’ll go wherever my feet take me. Maybe I’ll visit that town with the light festival I saw a couple years ago again, it was wonderful to see the first time and I got the feeling the presentation would be different every year. That might be interesting.”

For a while after that, Snufkin was quiet, staring at the calm water in front of them. But Moomin could tell he wasn’t done. There was a certain feel to the silence that told him so. The air isn’t sitting right for that to be it. The hard line of pressure against his side hasn’t softened, Snufkin’s tail is beginning to twitch against his in earnest, and a glance at his face confirms that the tightness hasn’t lessened any.

Then, Snufkin pulls away, untangling them from each other, putting some distance between them. He doesn’t stand up, he’s not quite _that_ worked up yet, but Moomin notes that his tail is well and truly thrashing now. He searches for his eyes and finds them already staring pleadingly into his, not avoiding his gaze at all. And while Moomin could stare into those beautiful eyes forever, seeing the full brunt of the distress on his face is not as fun.

_Oh, honey_ , he thinks, _you’ve really worked yourself into a right fit about this, haven’t you._ Really, this isn’t what he’d meant when he’d said he wished Snufkin would talk to him about things. He had hoped it make him bring things up before it got this bad. They’d _really_ have to talk about this later when they were both feeling more level headed.

He just hoped that it might stick this time. But if it doesn’t, he’ll do it again, and again, and again. He’ll tell Snufkin that he loves him, that he understands, that it’s okay he has needs he needs to be alone to fill until the mumrik believes him. And he’ll continue to do so even after that, because it’ll never stop being true.

It’s what Snufkin did for him, anyways, when his insecurities about their parting, about the possibility of him forcing Snufkin into something he doesn’t want, of making him feel stifled and trapped, reared their ugly heads. It was what you did when you loved someone. You told them so every day until they believed it and then you kept doing it.

It _was_ a little ironic that they’d switched roles here, though.

“I _have_ to leave, I have to see the world!” Snufkin was speaking again, but Moomin felt the words were less for him and more for Snufkin himself, somehow. “The world is so _so_ big and it’ll only feel like I’m wasting it if I stay in one place all the time. Please understand, Moomintroll,” there was a hint of quiet desperation in his voice that broke Moomin’s heart to hear.

He had to think of something to say soon. Fortunately, he thinks that Snufkin just gave him the perfect opening.

As casually as possible, he says, “Oh, the world can’t be _that_ big.”

Snufkin blinks at him, momentarily thrown out of whatever torrent of repressed emotion that had been raging inside his head by the sheer unexpectedness of such a response. “...What?” he asks like someone who’s read the same book a thousand times only to find another copy that read differently.

“Well, you know, it can’t be _that big._ I’d say it’s surprisingly small, actually, after hearing all the times you’ve gone on about how big it is” he says.

“...You only say that because you’ve seen so little of it,” Snufkin says, the words dragging out of him like he’s not entirely sure it’s wise to say them but still curious as to where he’s going with this. Oh, he can tell that Moomin is up to something with this line of conversation. He probably thinks he’ll ask to join him on his travels again.

Moomin hums a dissenting note. “I’ve seen enough to know it’s beautiful and lovely and wonderful. It’s full to bursting of so many good, lovely things and still, surprisingly, small enough that I can fit the whole of it in my paws.” Gosh, he sounds soft to his own ears saying that, like melted chocolate and plush pillows. He finds it appropriate.

Snufkin looks even more confused now, face scrunching up in a way Moomin can’t help but think is adorable. But he looks like he’s about to protest, so Moomin decides to get on with it, carefully reaching over and cupping Snufkin’s face in his paws like he’s the most precious thing in the world, because he _is._

“There, see? It fits perfectly.”

Snufkin’s eyes widen, mouth dropping open. His face just keeps getting redder as the seconds tick by. Moomin can feel the heat of his blush through his fur and he quietly thinks that a flustered Snufkin is also an _adorable_ Snufkin. He should really do things like this more often. It’s been such a good distraction technique so far, too.

“...Moomintroll…” Snufkin whispers, sounding awestruck and quite like he’d like to pull his hat down over his face right about now. But he doesn’t, he continues looking back at him, refusing to hide from this, from him.

Instead, slowly, Snufkin’s paws come up to cover his own, like he’s been given something unbelievably fragile. He’s staring up into Moomin’s eyes like he’s the most wonderful thing he’s ever seen, like Moomin hung the stars in the sky for him to admire, like he’s lovestruck, and it makes warmth bloom in Moomin’s chest. It’s so much he feels like he might burst. He’d very much like to kiss him right now, he thinks.

So he does. He softly presses his snout into Snufkin’s forehead, knocking his hat askew in the process, because he can think of nothing sweeter than forehead kisses and he finds that appropriate. Snufkin deserves nothing but the sweetest things the world has to offer. He feels Snufkin’s temperature raise another degree. He’d be worried if he didn’t know it was just a blush, but nothing bad could possibly be accompanied by the loud purring that erupts from Snufkin’s chest, anyways.  As it is, he’s pretty proud of himself.

When he pulls back, he sees something move out of the corner of his eye. “It looks like we got a bite, Snufkin!” he says, carefully pulling his paws out of his hold and managing to sound at least mostly normal.

Snufkin, though, is still frozen in place, purring loudly with wide eyes and a red face, while Moomin moves off to calmly reel in their lines and place the their latest catch in the bucket they’d brought along.

“I think we’ve caught enough fish for today,” Moomin says, glancing at the bucket.

He walks over to Snufkin, holding his paw out to help him up, “How about we head back and make ourselves a meal?”

“...Yeah, sure, sounds good,” is the dazed response he gets, but Snufkin paw closes around his own and pretty soon they’ve cleaned up and are walking back home with paws clasped, so Moomin counts the day as a success.The purring he doesn’t stop hearing for the rest of the day lets him know he’s done _something_ right, anyhow. Even if he doesn’t see Snufkin’s face again for the next several hours due to a certain green hat.

They’d have that talk a little later, but they _would_ have it, so help him.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Feel free to come scream at me over on my [tumblr!!](https://stingerpicnic.tumblr.com/)
> 
> ALSO this fic has art!!! Find it [HERE](https://athebler.tumblr.com/post/184937748761/i-loved-stingerpicnics-springdove-fic-so-much) and also [HERE,](https://daszomby.tumblr.com/post/185300506545/some-messy-doodles-i-did-after-i-read-the-first) though the second one is really more for the series overall.


End file.
